Interactive UNIX
So Powerful It Can't Be a PC
The Product
Unix was originally created to run on mainframes but eventually moved on to other systems. One of the first companies outside of AT&T to sell Unix was named Interactive Systems Corporation. Interactive Systems Corporation was founded by Peter G. Weiner in 1977. (Weiner was Brian Kernighan’s Ph.D. advisor. Kernighan was one of the creators of Unix.)
ISC produced a number of Unix based products, including a port of Unix to the IBM PC named PC/IX. PC/IX was followed in 1985 by 386/ix. While PC/IX was based on UNIX System III, 386/ix was based on UNIX System V, Release 3. Later, the operating system was renamed INTERACTIVE UNIX System V/386 and rebased on UNIX System V, Release 3.2.
In 1988, the Eastman Kodak Company purchased ISC. Three years later, Kodak sold the Unix part of the business to Sun Microsystems. That same year, Sun created a subsidiary named SunSoft to handle selling operating systems.
According to an article I found (and the copy of the ad), Interactive Unix was set to compete with Santa Cruz Operation’s Unix offerings. (SCO was another early company that sold Unix for x86 systems and was founded shortly after ISC.) The ad copy states, “Just Say No to SCO. Why? The Interactive Unix System is easy to use, simple to administer, all at a good price. Open Systems Today says the Interactive Unix “system management…is easier to use and more comprehensive” than SCO and “is simply a masterpiece of good design.”
PC Mag wrote the following about Interactive Unix:
SunSoft’s Interactive Unix, Version 3.0.1, has improved with age…Interactive is well-suited to the task. The only drawback is that Interactive’s kernel—SVR3.2—is not compatible with applications written for different flavors of Unix as are the newer SVR4 and SVR4.2 versions of Unix.
If you enjoyed this look at Unix, you may be interested in my past articles on the history of Unix. You can find the links on my blog: https://gitpi.us/page/link/.
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